Cedric Mullins goes down with an injury and the outfield dominos fall. Austin Hays started in center field Tuesday night and would have switched to left yesterday except for an illness that kept him out of the lineup. Aaron Hicks roamed the middle for a while, with Ryan McKenna in left. McKenna subbed in left and center in the ninth inning Tuesday,

LOS ANGELES – Luis García skipped out of the batter’s box, looked toward the Nationals dugout and yelled with delight. One inning later, Keibert Ruiz took his time leaving the box, making sure the ball really was going to leave the park, before turning toward his teammates, pounding his chest and letting out a primal scream of his own. At the end o

Under the most ideal circumstances, the Orioles were hoping to squeeze two innings out of opener Keegan Akin this afternoon, hand over the game to bulk reliever Austin Voth and try to avoid using the bullpen again until late in the game. That’s how they drew it up. That’s how it rarely seems to work when the Orioles try it. The Guardians started fo

LOS ANGELES – There will probably come a point later this summer when the Nationals have to find creative ways to reduce the workload of their young starting pitchers. That time, though, has not come yet. MacKenzie Gore (ostensibly a rookie even though he no longer qualifies) and Jake Irvin (a true rookie) each have been taking every turn in the ro

The Orioles have played eight series this year that were not decided until the third and final game, and they are 5-3 in those games. They play another one today after splitting the first two games of their series with the Cleveland Guardians. The Orioles (35-20) are 5-2-1 this month in series, and they are 12-4-1 in 17 series for the year, going 5

LOS ANGELES – A road trip that began with so much promise is now in danger of concluding in the complete opposite direction. Since winning the first two games of their weekend series in Kansas City (and carrying a lead into the seventh on Sunday), the Nationals have lost three straight, and today are in danger of getting swept by the mighty Dodgers

Austin Hays is out of today’s Orioles lineup against the Guardians because of an illness. Ryan McKenna is in left field. Aaron Hicks is making his Orioles debut in center. “Haysy’s a little bit under the weather today,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Hopefully, he’s available to get some big hits for us late in the game. But going to start Mac in left

The last time outfielder Aaron Hicks was an above-average hitter (going by OPS+, where 100 is league average), was the 2020 season. He had an OPS of .793 for the New York Yankees that year, which was 22 percent above league average. But his OPS since the 2021 season is .625, and that is 22 percent below the league norm. He comes to Baltimore to try

Aaron Hicks is starting in center field this afternoon, as the Orioles try to clinch the series win over the Guardians. Hicks is batting sixth. Keegan Akin is the opener, with Austin Voth working in bulk relief. Twenty-three of Akin’s 24 career starts came in 2020-21. Adam Frazier is leading off again today. He’s reached base in 20 of 23 games sinc

LOS ANGELES – If you woke up this morning without having watched Tuesday night’s game and looked at Jake Irvin’s pitching line, you probably weren’t impressed. The Nationals rookie gave up four runs on eight hits in five innings, taking the loss as his team fell to the Dodgers, 9-3. Irvin’s outing, to be sure, was not a particularly good start. But